This invention relates, generally, to a print media handling system and more specifically, to a detachable tractor media handling system that trims tractor media to a predetermined width for feeding the tractor media to an attached printer.
Most of present day printers are based either on ink jet or laser technologies. The advancement of these technologies allows ink jet and laser printers to print relatively high quality printouts at a high speed. However, in many lesser-developed countries, dot-matrix printers are still in widespread use. These dot-matrix printers accept fan-fold tractor media. The dot-matrix printers are generally inferior compared to the ink jet and laser printers. The dot-matrix printers are noisy and slow in operation and the quality of the printouts is far inferior. It is only a matter of time that they become obsolete, leaving behind possibly large amounts of tractor media. Accordingly, there is a need to adapt these tractor media for use with ink-jet and laser printers, which typically receives cut-sheet print media of a smaller width than that of the tractor media.
Furthermore, users of cut-sheet print media may want to purchase cut-sheet print media of one size and have the media automatically trimmed to a required size occasionally instead of purchasing media of different sizes.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print media handling system for feeding print media into a media inlet of a printer. The print media handling system includes a media feeder for feeding print media towards the media inlet and at least one trimming element for trimming the print media to a predetermined width prior to the print media entering the media inlet.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer that includes a print media handling system described above.